Lakers-haters should probably get their popcorn ready and tune in for Lakers-Celtics tonight.

ATLien Dwight Howard has missed the past three games because of a torn labrum in his right shoulder. The Lakers won all of them but, this being the Lakers and Dwight beight Dwight, his decision on whether to play in tonight's nationally-televised game comes along with some drama.

On Tuesday Lakers lynchpin Kobe Bryant said Howard needs to show some “urgency” in returning from injury because the team, 10th in the West, is desperate for a playoff push. On Wednesday Bryant told ESPN.com that Howard “worries too much about what people think,” apparently deciding the best way to motivate a such a person is to publicly shame him.

Today, Howard said he wasnt' sure if he would play tonight and finally took on Kobe: 

"He's not a doctor. I'm not a doctor. So that's his opinion," Howard said. "I mean, I want to play. But at the same time, this is my career, this is my future, this is my life. I can't leave that up to anybody else because nobody else is going to take care of me.

"If people are [ticked] off that I don't play, that I do play, whatever it may be, so what? This is my career. If I go down, then what? Everybody's life is going to go on. I don't want to have to have another summer where I'm rehabbing and, you know, trying to get healthy again. I want to come back and have another great year."

Howard is eligible to become be a free agent this summer. The Hawks tried to trade for him before the Magic sent Howard to Los Angeles and presumably will make another run at Howard if/when he's available.

The Hater endorses the move—not for basketball reasons, but because he would easily get five blogs a week from a Dwight-fueled circus.

Bryant tried to backtrack a bit today, insisting he didn't put too much pressure on Howard to play and that all he meant was “if (Howard) was healthy enough to play, and it was a situation where it wasn't going to make it worse, then he should be playing.”

So, basically, Kobe said the same thing in a different way, all of it meaning: Get out on the floor, Dwight.

The Hater is in the house.